New Years Nails 14 / 15

Good evening lovelies,

did you really think I would leave you just like that without posting a New Years Nails post?
You’ve been wrong haha

Here I am and I am bringing you a real quick last minute New Years Eve nail design.

When I was shopping at my local TKmaxx recently I saw the fun O.P.I. Pure Lacquer Nail Apps. The design is perfect for New Year since the base is silver and it’s topped with cute little martini glasses that even contain olives! How fun!

I bought Shaken not Stirred

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I am normally not a big fan of those nail strips since the always seem to come off easily and don’t apply very well in general.
BUT since these are basically real and very thin nail polish strips I definitely wanted to give them a try. A big Bonus was that they were on sale. The tag said that they were normally 16 euro and that the TKmaxx price was 7 euro, but I got them for only 3 euro! I didn’t think twice and bought them, already having today’s New Years Nails in mind.

In one pack you get 16 different sized nail strips, which are sealed in silver foil. The reason is that they are real polish strips. Not sealing would cause them to dry out fast, making them not-usable anymore. So, if you decide to use them make sure to actually use them up completely or use the rest of them shortly after.

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Since I wanted to show you a quick manicure I decided on a full set of nail strips instead of only applying strips to the accent nail.

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You can see that the strips are in different sizes to match several finger sizes. You chose which one you want to use for which finger and do one nail at a time.

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Take the nail strip, peel off the plastic cover and then peel off the silver strip from the card-board. Gently pull it off in a downward motion.

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Carefully place it near your cuticle area and press it on to the nails. Be careful that you don’t create any folds or bubbles. At the tip of your nail you should press it against the edge of the nail so you get a cleaner cut when you pull the rest of the strip off. Now take a fine nail file and file off the access.
Now continue with the rest of your nails and add a clear top coat if you like.

If you feel that the strips are way too big for your nails, you can also use small nail scissors and cut the to size before you start applying, meaning before you pull off the plastic cover.

Here is my finished result.

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left hand

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right hand

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I think that these are a great alternative if you don’t have much time to do your nails or if you don’t have the skills and patience to do a detailed nail design.
It might take a bit of practice but it really isn’t that hard. I applied them for the first time and think I could have used a bigger strip for my pinky, especially since I misplaced it a bit to far to the right on my right hand.

 

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Looking that the thumbs though, I think the strips had the perfect size for me (I used the 2nd big one).

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I hope you liked this quick tutorial and review.

Happy New Year

I wish you a lot of fun tonight and hope you will have a great new year 2015!

 photo Mara2.jpg

 

Merry Christmas 2014 and happy New Year 2015

Merry Christmas

The holidays are finally here and the year 2014 is almost over.
At times like this I like to think back and cherish what the past year has brought me.

2014 was a very exciting year for me!
After years of passion and professional experience in the field of decorative cosmetics, I’ve decided that I officially wanted to share my knowledge and go online with this blog.

I started almost one year ago, in February, so there are many things that I can look back to.
It is still very exciting for me to see how little by little, more and more people find pleasure in what I do and therefore follow my Blog, Instagram or like my Facebook page.
For me, my readers are not just numbers but people who share the same interests as me and whom I want to help with advice on products in general.

During the past year I had opportunities to cooperate with different partners and take place in Blogger Events such as styleranking’s Beauty Blogger Café in Berlin and the DM Brand Camp Beauty in Düsseldorf!
I met a lot of lovely people and even made some new friends along the way.

Another regular event for me was the #SocialMovieNight powered by Robert Hofmann.
The name is pretty self-explanatory. As you might have seen during the past months, depending on the shown movie, I create a fitting a nail design and try to combine the beauty and movies, which is another huge passion of mine.
In this context, I got the chance to work with Maskworld, who supported me by sending in some products so I could create 3 different Halloween Make-up looks.
You see, my interests are very widely spread.

I wanted to say THANK YOU!, to each and everyone who supported me during my first few months. I do not take it for granted.

Now I will leave you with a few pictures of my Christmas decorations and wish you and with your loved ones a happy, merry Christmas.

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And in case you are too busy celebrating and eating yummy food during the holidays, I want to wish you all the best for New Years as well.

Happy New Year

I will see you again in 2015!

Stay safe, Mara

☆『マラ』☆

 

 

[blogger cooperation] 4th Advent nail design

Good evening and happy 4th Advent to everyone.

4th Advent

My little Blogger Cooperation with Jule from JulchensTraumwelt is already over, which means Christmas is right around the corner. Did you already decorate your Christmas Tree? I sure did a few weeks ago.
Anyway, what better theme could we pick then the lovely Christmas Tree itself. Since I won’t get much presents this year I also decided to at least draw on some colorful packages for myself.

I hope you enjoy it.

What I used?

 

  • Manhattan – Glitter Effect nail polish – Jungle Gem
  • Ciaté – PP067 regatta
  • Ciaté – PP099 espadrilles
  • ORLY – What’s the Password?

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As you cans see, I mixed up the colors pretty well, always using a different polish for the package itself and the ribbon.
For the Christmas Tree I used Manhattans Jungle Gem and some loose silver and smaller red hexa particles. That’s basically it.
Keep a still hand and be patient. After you are done, seal the design in with a clear fast drying top coat.

 

close-up pinky

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close-up ring finger

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I have no close-up fot the middle finger though.

close-up pointy finger

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close-up thumb

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I hope you like this little fun design. I will be back on Wednesday and hope you have a nice Sunday.

If you would give the design a try, I would love to see you re-creations with the hashtag #jman2014

Have a great Sunday.

Mara

☆『マラ』☆